THE RAND STONE - PART DEUX

Well, the Rand Stone has spent the night drying overnight....  It's still very, very soft and is going to take a little time to cure...

This is what it looked like when the form was taken off the side...

Jim took a file and rounded the edges a little bit....

And then, started to cut the sunflower away....  The cement is really, really soft so we didn't want to cut down too far into the stone just in case it fell apart before it was totally cured.

This is what it's going to look like while it's curing and the rest of the sunflower is decaying...  As it decays, and cures, we can pull more of it out...You can see where the leaves are woven through the cement... Just what we wanted!

We are totally excited and happy with the progress!  

Cheri

THE RAND STONE

My dream for part of the decorating of the cabin was to make stepping stones that were imprinted with leaves or branches from different places that Jim and I have been over the years.  I've been collecting succulents and freezing them until I could get to the point of making a stepping stone with them.

Well, today, we made the Rand Stone.  This is our first stepping stone for the cabin.  I know, in time, our technique is going to change a little bit, but, we are quite proud with what we've done today!

This is Rand's sunflower that grew in his backyard.  After his mum and dad helped him harvest it, his mum brought it to me to be set in cement.

We let it dry out a little bit and the cut the stem off so that it will fit flush in the mould that Jim made.

Here's the base of the mould. Jim put screws in a circle so it would hold the form from moving around.

We put the sunflower inside the form and screwed it down to the board that it wouldn't shift when the cement was poured on top.

Here's the sunflower just before being covered with cement.

It's now going to take a couple of days to dry, and then we peel off the form, and we have a stepping stone with an inverted imprint of Rand's sunflower.

Here's to the beginning of beautiful stepping stones.  Thanks to Rand for sharing his sunflower with us!

Cheri

STEEL SOMETHING OR ANOTHERS....

 Well, Jim is all excited about buying steel...  It goes in the cabin - exactly where, I don't have a clue... I don't know what this stuff is called... All I know, is that it's about 30 feet long, and it's heavier than all get out... and Jim is excited that we bought it...

There ya go...  Cheri

Well, now it's my turn.  These are I-Beams and they are structural steel used to hold up the main floor.  This allows us to have a large two car garage under one end of the cabin and we won't have a pole in the middle of the garage.  The other allows us to build a mother-in-law apartment downstairs next to the garage that doesn't have a pole in the middle of the living room area.  So it's one of the details that definitely has nothing to do with decorating.  This is function rather than form.

Talk to you soon, Jim S.

YES, I HAD A STICK IN MY HAIR... AND FLAT DIDN'T CARE!

Such a busy weekend!

Jim and I had specific goals set out before we even got to the property.  His goal was to set the power pole so that Garkane power can run the power to it!

My goal was to keep cleaning the property of all that stupid Manzanita and scrub oak that seems to be multiplying every time we go there!

Both of us achieved out goals!

We found that the best thing to do was to buy a trailer and start hauling all that crap out of there....You can't even imagine how long it takes to load the trailer with all trees and bushes...The property is not level, so every step back to the trailer is uphill... exhausting!

At the end of it, I was really pleased!  I looked really bad, but it was such an accomplishment.  Now, brace yourself with the next photo.......  Just remember how I felt when I realized what I looked like, AFTER I had dinner in a restaurant and was out in public....  And, last night in the shower, I realized I had a stick in my hair on top of it all.... I guess, if you can't laugh at yourself.... ya ya ya...

Jim's job was to install the power pole....  Had had to first of all dig a hole, then level the power pole and then fill the hole in with dirt.  But, again, that stupid Manzanita was interfering with our plan.  Jim was using the backhoe to dig the hole, and just kept digging up more and more manzanita roots... I hate that stuff...

And, as you can see, at the end of the day, we had a power pole set!

And, before we left, the backhoe and Beluga are back in their proper places!

Here's a couple of pictures of the inside of the motor home as it is now.... It's very, very comfortable and we're enjoying it....

Jim keeps telling me that it's the journey, not the destination.  This journey is amazing.

Cheri